Mary's Nineteenth Century

Mary didn't immediately answer what the scarlet letter meant.

She walked around the corpse first, and then looked through little Ralph's clothes, confirming that there was an obvious difference between the situation at the scene this time and the previous ones.

"One thing is missing here, but there are more blood characters."

Mary said, "Obviously, the scarlet replaces that key symbol, which is what the scarlet means."

What's missing?

Too easy to give an answer, less the black raven feather that comes up every time.

"You mean, MH stands for Munin and Hugin?"

The search and rescue team leader immediately reacted, yes, the search and rescue team had a preconceived idea.Because I know Mycroft Holmes, I subconsciously think that the word in blood is his acronym.

Why did you ignore the key point that there are no feathers on the scene.He was clearly told to look out for black raven feathers before going out of the city to search, but he ignored it after discovering the body of little Ralph.

Wu Ni and Fu Jin are exactly the two ravens in Norse mythology.They are the ravens of Odin, the king of the gods, perched on Odin's shoulders.Flying all over the nine worlds from time to time, reporting the world's dynamics to Odin.

There was no black raven feather at the scene of Little Ralph's death, but blood letters representing the names of the two ravens in mythology were left.It is more reasonable to think that MH refers to Ravens than to Mycroft.

Mycroft held the same view.The murderer previously killed four animals that coincided with the protagonists of the fairy tale, and now leaves letters related to the Norse mythological characters to match the murderer's style of action.

"Wuni and Fokkin are much more famous than me."

Mycroft was sure he wasn't widely known. How many Mr. Mintons in the world would have taken the precaution to find out the composition of the embassy?In fact, far more people in Berlin have heard of Ralph Jr. than have heard of him.

Therefore, although it is not ruled out that the murderer may be provoking him by leaving blood, Odin's theory of two ravens is more reasonable.

Now, a new problem has emerged.

What does the shamrock placed on little Ralph's forehead represent?What kind of murder weapon did the murderer use?Are heart wounds fatal?Where did the other six go with little Ralph?

Members of the search and rescue team first went to the place where the crocodile was said to eat people to determine whether the crocodile was used as a body disposal machine.

Mycroft remained at the cabin to examine little Ralph's body further.In addition to the autopsy in situ, other inspections that can be done have been done.

The entire body had no defensive injuries, and it was very likely that little Ralph was killed in a state of unconsciousness.When they return to Berlin, the blood can be further tested for drug residues that cause coma.

There is only one wound on the whole body, which is a puncture wound in the heart, and it is also a fatal wound that kills with one blow.Not stabbed with a regular knife, but like some kind of curved sharp hook.

So far, little Ralph's death process seems very ordinary, that is, he was first stunned and then stabbed to death.

The strange thing is that after opening the corpse's mouth, it smelled a faint earthy smell.

Looking into the throat again, a small nettle can be pulled out.In this case, the murderer forced the plant down the throat of little Ralph.The nettles were not chewed, they were stuffed after little Ralph died.

A dead body with a clover on its forehead and a nettle leaf stuffed down its throat. What is the murderer going to do?

In connection with the crime style of the black feather murderer, the objects he left behind have corresponding symbolic meanings. What meaning do the two plants want to express?

On the other end, Mary walked all over the courtyard.As the search team said, everything here is very tidy, and some daily necessities are neatly placed.Then you must be able to see some living habits.

"There used to be two people living here, a man and a woman judging from their personal belongings. Maybe we need to adjust our previous speculation. The black feather murderer didn't hire someone to lure little Ralph to the bait, but a loyal female assistant .”

Mary looked into the bedroom. There was a double bed.Men's and women's items are mixed, and it seems that the two are lovers.

"It's more interesting in the kitchen, not a German kitchen. There are French specialties like herbs from Provence and blue cheese."

Upon arriving in Berlin, Marie identified the unpretentiousness of the German diet of the era.German cooking is far less fancy than French, and it is not easy to buy foreign ingredients at the market these days.

The kitchen of the wooden house located in the forest is equipped with kitchen utensils and ingredients for French cooking, which at least shows that the residents of the wooden house have unusual tastes and are willing to spend money.

When the murderer killed the four animals, it can be said that he traveled to many places in Germany.

In the dead rooster case, the murderer was again identified as speaking with a southern German accent.Now combined with the French specialty ingredients in the wooden kitchen kitchen, it is really hard to say whether the murderer is a native German.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the murderer deliberately confused his line of sight.

However, with the discovery of Ralph Jr.'s body, the murderer inevitably revealed more characteristics.From the perspective of narrowing down the list of suspected suspects, this is barely good news.

There are two sides to the matter, and the death of little Ralph must be a sad news for Counselor Ralph like a bolt from the blue.

To transport the corpse back to Berlin tomorrow morning, one can imagine how hysterical Counselor Ralph would be after seeing his son's corpse.

"Mr. Holmes, you have worked hard."

Mary didn't hide her sympathetic eyes, and she already imagined how uneasy the British embassy and consulate would be.Before that, she had experienced Counselor Ralph's eloquence of turning black and white.

Who made Mycroft's initials the same as the initials of the two crows of the Lord God Odin.

Counselor Ralph is likely to seize the bloody "MH" to make a fuss, not for anything else, and people who are not clear enough always find an outlet for their emotions.You can't scold the ravens in fairy tales, but you can make trouble for living people.

"The family members of the victim are a little emotional, which is understandable."

Mycroft could foresee the uproar at noon tomorrow.He didn't like 'lively' very much, but some things couldn't be avoided, and Counselor Ralph had to keep the noise from going too far.

This is the end of the matter, the dead cannot be brought back to life.

As long as Counselor Ralph still wants to find the murderer, he will not be unscrupulous, not to mention that a person like him cannot be sad enough to go with his son.

Mary was of little help in this regard, and she had no long-armed control over the embassy's internal affairs.

"Perhaps, a happy event can be used to cover up a tragedy. Counselor Ralph must be sad when his only son dies. He is the heir he has been looking forward to for many years. Fortunately, at Counselor Ralph's age, he has not completely lost his fertility. Try hard and maybe a miracle will happen.”

Mary seemed to be sincerely suggesting, just ignore the sarcasm.

Little Ralph was not Counselor Ralph's only child, he had several older sisters.It's just that Ralph never considered his daughter as an heir.

Mycroft kept smiling.This is not a good proposal, it is clearly a rhetoric for fear of chaos in the world.

He doesn't know if Ralph, who is 60 years old, can create a so-called miracle, but if he repeats it verbatim, he will 100% be involved in the brawl tomorrow.

"Mr. Minton, I have a proposal too."

Mycroft said with a laugh, "Sometimes you can choose to remain silent for the sake of world peace."

Mary: All right.Seeing that little Ralph was the victim, she didn't come up with bad ideas.

Even if predicted by objective logic, Counselor Ralph really wants to have another son 90.00% of the time.

No more active atmosphere, back to the topic.

Why did the murderer kill Ralph Jr.?The victim this time is completely opposite to the marginalized people in the past. Is the modus operandi upgraded?Or is there a personal vendetta between the two?

"Before, I asked Counselor Ralph what enemies his son had, but he said he didn't know."

Mary failed to get an answer at the time, and Counselor Ralph said he would send her a message after making inquiries.The world is impermanent, and before the other end responded, the body of little Ralph was found here first.

As an outsider, Mycroft knew it very well. "Little Ralph has been in Berlin for two years, and the number of people who have directly turned against him has reached as many as 97. I have conducted a comprehensive investigation, and those people do not meet the characteristics of a black feather murderer. But after today, the scope of this investigation needs to be expanded."

The murderer does not necessarily live in Berlin, he may have been to France.Was little Ralph related to the murderer before he came to Berlin?

Unfortunately, I can't find out for a few days.His nature was hard to change, little Ralph had a lot of troubles when he was in England, maybe one of the lovers he abandoned was the fuse of this murder case.

The investigation continues.

The search party found some fragments of clothing near Alligator Pool, which were worn by Little Ralph's guards.

Although the skeletons of the guards and maids were not found directly, the dismembered bones of the long dead were found, proving that the crocodiles were indeed used as corpse cleaning machines.

Is this the only place where the black feather murderer's body is disposed of?

I'm afraid not.Instead of feeding little Ralph to the crocodile, the murderer left his body in the wooden house and added two kinds of plants to give the body some meaning.

In other words, from the moment the severed finger wearing the ring was found in the basement, the murderer had no intention of killing little Ralph quietly.What kind of murderous intent is the murderer expressing?

With doubts, the group returned to Berlin.

There is always something else to do besides solve the case.

Mary found time to say goodbye to Darcy and Bingley, who were going back to England for Christmas and could not stay in Berlin any longer.As for the "Scarab Club" that hasn't been investigated clearly, it needs to be discussed in the long run.

Darcy left two guards.The guards have investigated the revolving door murderer in the past, and now they can temporarily lend Mr. Minton as an assistant.

Mary thought about it, but she didn't refuse. It would be good if two more people helped.

If there is no more harvest in Berlin, she may go to the Black Forest region of Germany during the Christmas holidays to find the professor who the murderer was at school.

After sending people out of the city, I will go to the Berlin branch of Gold Coast Publishing House next.

Don't forget that the first clue about the members of the "Scarab Club" came from the publishing house, and it was the name of the murderer who was noticed during the book search process.

This time I went to the publishing house for a serious business of making money.

Mary was to hand in the manuscript.

Gold Coast Publishing House needs excellent translators to introduce books from European countries to American universities, and she just took over the task of translating some of the bibliographies.

When I came to the location of the publishing house, the whole street was engaged in the printing of books, newspapers and periodicals.

Newspaper offices and book publishing houses lined up one after another, and one or two flags fluttered in front of each brick building.Similar flags are very common in Germany, and different patterns on the flag represent different coats of arms of each family.

The most common sight in Publishing Street is the coat of arms of the Printing Union.

Its main body is a double-headed black eagle, holding a typesetting hand plate in one claw.The other holds a hoop with a Gothic capital G on it, which stands for Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of Western metal movable type printing. ①

Heraldry flags with different patterns will also be hung in castles, churches, pharmacies, city halls and other places.

Walking on the streets of Berlin, it can be said that these flags are commonplace.Because it is so familiar to the point of taking it for granted, it becomes completely unnoticed.

Today, when Mary looked up at the heraldic flag, she stopped suddenly.

When a black feather murderer commits a crime, he always leaves something with a meaning on the scene.For example, the black feather, which is now known to be regarded by the murderer as the crow of the Lord Odin.

This wraps around.

The nettles, shamrocks, and similar hooks that inflicted fatal wounds on the body of little Ralph also formed a kind of coat of arms.

"The crime was committed within half a year, and he may have lived in France. Electric shocks, stumps..."

Mary whispered, she thought she should have found one of the triggers for the black feather murderer.Sometimes the answer is so obvious that it is overlooked.

Ask, what happened in 1871?

Either the Germans or the French should have an answer that came out of their mouths—from last year to this year, the Franco-Prussian War took place.The war, Germany won.

So what about subdividing into individuals?

Personal destiny always bears the weight of the torrent of the times. Some people seize the good opportunity, while some bear the bad price.Then, the black feather murderer appeared...